Not So Much a "Swerve" As It Is a "Swat"
Sherwhinny Forest – Underground
The five agents of S.M.I.L.E trotted slowly down a winding earthen corridor. Chief Agent Horizons horn cast an amber-orange glow that preceded them through the claustrophobic tunnel, illuminating the craggy path ahead. All was silent, save for the awkwardly hissing servos in Horizons mechanical prosthetic.
Betsy whistled. "That's quite a fancy bucker you've got there, Hor-Hor." She raised a wrinkled eyebrow. "I wonder how many fancy tricks it can do."
"I'm as well-equipped to serve the interests of the League as ever," Horizons droned. "And don't call me 'Hor-Hor.'"
"You're lucky I don't call you 'Shadow,'" Betsy said with a frown. "Because that's about as concrete as you've been about things lately."
"A nebulous presence is something to be proud of," Horizons remarked. "As a fellow agent, I would hope that you would respect this."
"Betsy's just being Betsy, Horizons," Haze said. "But you've gotta admit..." His slitted eyes narrowed. "We're sorely lacking answers as to where we are and what we're doing here."
"All will be revealed shortly," Horizons said. "I... do apologize for how minimal my communication has been as of late. It's been rather difficult working with the representatives of the Royal Sisters inside Canterlot and still maintain anonymity with the overall populace."
"Secrecy, I can respect," Bon Bon said. "But exclusion?"
Horizons merely sighed.
"Why are we in Trottingham, anyways?" Sharp Quill asked. "I figured if we were going to relocate the League's base, we'd position ourselves far away from Canterlot in order to throw off any opposition. But here? We're just lying in the shadow of the mountain where the League was formed."
"You're making the grave assumption that I either chose or built this place," Horizons said.
Betsy smirked. "You mean you didn't carve this tunnel out of the dirty earth with your bare hooves?"
Horizons glanced back. "We haven't relocated. We've merged."
"Merged?" Bon Bon blinked.
"Consider this a massive upgrade." Just as Horizons said that, the chief agent reached what appeared to be a dead end. She raised her prosthetic hoof, and—with a whirring noise—the metal peg-leg swirled around, exposing a series of tools. One drilled out from the rest and fit into a neatly-hidden hole in the wall. Horizons' spun the end of the prosthetic, thereby unlocking something with an audible clunk!
The earthen wall before the group split apart with a vertical seam. Steam and gray light bled through. The agents felt themselves pelted with refreshingly cool air conditioning. Bon Bon, Sharp Quill, and Betsy squinted past the doorframe. Haze had to wrap a thick hood over his bat-like hears and eyes.
A perfectly rectangular room stretched before them. The rigid walls were gray and made out of concrete, and the seams between the geometric panels were illuminated from underneath, giving the chamber a cool gray glow. Everything looked neat, plain, and sterile—even down to the unassuming furniture and tables resting in the middle of the room. At the far end, a round door stood atop a small set of stairs with hoof-railings.
In the center of the room, there sat a crimson figure. The stallion instantly stood up—as if he had been waiting in one of the chairs for an untold period of time. As Horizons trotted in with the group, the pony approached them... and it was only when he was within speaking distance that the group realized his body was translucent.
"Greetings," the stallion said in a calm, pleasant voice. "The Secret Monster Intelligence League, I presume."
"You've forgotten of 'Of Equestria' part," Sharp Quill said. "Because if we were owned by the griffons, I'd be flying back across the ocean in a heartbeat."
"Wow! A crystal pony!" Betsy remarked with a smirk. "You lost, little guy?"
"Uhhhhh..." The stallion glanced at Horizons, then back at Betsy. "I assure you I'm here on purpose."
"Celestia on a bike!" Betsy poked the pony's shoulder with her horn. "Look how tiny they are! Hah!" She smirked at the others. "And I thought that pegasi were petite horses!"
"Did... uhm..." The stallion glanced nervously at Horizons. "...did you test them for—?"
"Don't worry, Secret Agent," Horizons muttered. "They're not changelings—or else I'd have dragged them in unconscious for processing."
Haze blinked. "'Secret Agent?'" He peeked out from beneath his hood. "Did I hear that right?"
Horizons cleared her throat. "Agents... I want you to meet Sergeant Garnet of the Imperial Defense Force." She gestured. "Well... former Sergeant, technically. As of today, he's rendering his services to Canterlot... and he is now the latest recruit in the League."
"Imperial Defense Force..." Bon Bon blinked. "As in the Crystal Empire?"
"That is correct." Garnet bowed low. "I served proudly under Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard for several months... and I am just as proud—if not prouder—to serve with the likes of you." His translucent brow furrowed. "Trust me when I say that the legacy and the mission of the League is of utmost importance to the Crystal Empire... now as much as ever."
"Crystal Empire...?!" Betsy grimaced. "You're a relic, boy!"
"Betsy..." Bon Bon chided.
"I ain't shittin' around! This poor sap's gotta be three thousand years out of time!"
"Uhm..." Sergeant Garnet calmly cleared his throat. "Seven thousand years, actually. But—for me—it's only been a matter of a few months... perspective-wise."
"Good Goddess..." Sharp Quill murmured.
"That must be really, really tough," Bon Bon said.
"Nevertheless, I assure you that I am more than capable of assisting you in the field," Sergeant Garnet said. "For the sake of both Equestria and the Empire."
"Forgive me for being forward," Haze said. "But the induction of a new League Member has always been a mutual decision agreed upon by the League as a whole." His slitted eyes wandered to Horizons. "Chief Agent... why weren't we consulted about this?"
"Rein in the fangs, Agent," Horizons grumbled. "Garnet here is our new rookie recruit and that's final."
"By whose orders?"
"By mine," said an elegant female voice.
All ponies swiveled to face the round metal door.
A slender figure stood against the light, flanked by bodyguards. "I figured that... if the League is to be reinvented... then it would be best to hire on a pony who was actually alive to witness the treachery of the organization's founding member—Prince Miller." As she came into the center of the room, her snow white coat and silk-auburn mane came into focus. She smiled, blue eyes firm and piercing beneath a pronounced horn. "After all... in this new and ever-changing Equestria of ours... you can never be too certain whom you can trust."
Sharp Quill leaned in towards Haze. "Look, Haze. A eucorn."
Haze nodded. "Canterlot royalty, no doubt."
"More than just royalty," the mare remarked—startling the agents with her hearing. "But heir to the corporate throne of Blue Nova Industries. That would make me—essentially—your boss."
"Boss?" Betsy burped.
"Ahem..." Agent Horizons bowed and gestured towards the graceful equine. "Agents, I present to you Princess Plasma of Trottingham."
Bon Bon's muzzle dropped. "Princess... Plasma...?"
"Mmmmm..." The mare bore a soft smirk. "Who were you expecting? My brother?"
Stats
Page generated in 0.063 seconds
Total duration
1,014 users online
1,618,893 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
PLASMAAAAAAAAAA!
It's weird that Betsy's stealing Horizons' lines now.
Also, Trottingham is nowhere near the base of Canterlot Mountain.
vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/a/a4/Map_of_Equestria_2015.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20151205072352
Northeast corner. Just south of Bugbear territory, you'll find the Griffish Isles. And at their northernmost point, the presumably almost entirely British city of Trottingham.
Trottingham actually makes a lot of sense as a base you'd want to fall back to once the Canterlot location is compromised.
Wait, I'm lost, who's her brother? Blueblood?
Ok so someone new then, interesting. I'm right now assuming that 7453942 is right and her brother is Blueblood
7453849
Yeah it's nowhere near Canterlot. I kind of wonder if he confused it for Hollow Shades that would be the closest place, that is not Ponyville, I could see.
What... is a eucorn?
7454031 Or maybe Skirts just doesn't know about the map and assumed Trottingham didn't have a canon location.
7454064 Or that
7454047 A unicorn that hates Theresa May?
Has a mysterious, newly-revealed character in any story ever said a line like that and not been a villain?
... no, really. I'm asking.
Heh.
Wait, seven thousand years? Wasn't the empire list after Luna's banishment, that is less than a thousand years ago?
Can't wait to see some changelings process him.
Hello, obvious villain, how are you? I await to see just what your horrible secret is that marks you as evil.
7454141
7454256
Ehhhh maybe a bit early to say villain, but I am imaging a Amanda Waller style character perhaps. Cold, calculating and will take extreme measures but in the end does what she thinks is right for her nation and cares in her own way. Antagonist sure, but right now I'm not ready to say villain.
ok. with all this talk about geography and new tech going on, am i the only one who noted that Princess Plasma looks exactly like fausticorn/tau sunflare/lauren/whateveryouwanttocallher? i mean look at her
vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/3/3c/FANMADE_Fausticorn.png/revision/latest?cb=20130326023559
let's see. slender frame? check. aubrun mane, blue eyes? check and check! and the reason the smile agents immediately concluded her to be a member of royalty? pretty sure eucorn is an old word for alicorn, since only alicorns are immediately presumed to be royalty.
well however, at least skirt didn't make her actually fausticorn. i don't know if i could have handled that. regardless that does opens the door for a lot of possibilities...
7453942 most likely, since blueblood is the duke of trottingham. so, if she's royalty there as well, it's very likely that she meant him.
Being SMILE, I wonder how many of the alternate words are accidental typos, and how many are shifts, variations, redirections used for inserting SMILE operative messages into normal communications.
Purloined Letter chat.
Horizons is now Toolie, and is working for Changelings or just a third party, in a Stable built by Precursors? Or at least many decades before during other times? Maybe even Discordian?
Yaay, its Cortana/Hologram guy from AI/Speak and Spell.
That is correct.
7454047 A castrated unicorn?
Hmm. I feel like I'm missing some vital context here... which is kind of ironic, given the length of the first act. Still, no idea what a eucorn is or who Plasma's brother might be, especially given how she apparently fell into the same time abyss as the Crystal Empire.
Probably Blueblood's sister, given the blood-themed names.
Can't be any worse than Nightshade, right? Speaking of, I wonder if she has any idea what happened to her predecessor. (The Jury's still out on if she survived...)
If the Empire jad vanished 7000 years ago then they would all be speaking a casting different language then Luna did after just 1000 years time displaced. No one should be able to understand them except maybe the Royals.
Not to mention they would take years to adjust to modern Equestria with that big a displaxement and would not be functioning so easily with everyone else as they are, actually it probabaky would have taken an entire generation to adjust.
They should have expiranced months of culture shock.
Interesting. "eu" being the Greek prefix meaning "good."
I'm just gonna guess that a eucorn is a tall, skinny, unicorn like Fleur and Sassy Saddles. It may be a special breed or subspecies, possibly related to alicorns like the Sarosians.